Category: Solo Piping

History: Northern Meeting 1970, Success for Andrew Wright and Ian McLellan

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Last week we ran the results from Inverness 1970. Since then our staff have been busy burrowing and have come up with an original report and pictures from the contest published in the Press & Journal newspaper dated September 18. Headlined ‘A Double Gold Success for Piper’ the article reads: ‘A Paisley engineer has scored a double success in the piping world this year. ‘Last month 33-year-old Andrew Wright won…

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‘Amazing Grace’, Tape on Chanters, Donald MacPherson and Donald MacLeod

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A student wrote to me last week following the story on Piping Press marking the 50th anniversary of the release of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards’ Amazing Grace. His point was simply that on first hearing the tune, the F, to his ear, sounded slightly flat. His observation was not intended in any way to be a criticism of the piper playing the solo, P/M Tony Crease. He agreed that…

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Be a Better Piper: Where the Beat Falls

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By the Editor One of the issues that seemed to exercise the minds of several students at the Florida school a couple of months back was where the beat falls when playing our ceòl beag. It seems there is stuff out there that is misunderstood. To try to put their minds at ease I ran through my simple explanation: 1 Play a succession of low As on the chanter whilst…

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History: Bagpipe Maker RG Lawrie Part 2

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We conclude this short history of the renowned bagpipe maker RG Lawrie. It is from the hand of its last proprietor, Arthur Lawrie. This history was given by Mr Lawrie to the late Jimmy McIntosh who kindly forwarded it to Piping Press. This article ends with a contemporary obituary for Mr Lawrie (2005). It sheds light on his personal life and his work with the company… The independence of Tanganyika,…

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History: Iconic Bagpipemaker Peter Henderson’s Catalogue from the 1930s Part 2

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We continue with our look at the Peter Henderson catalogue from the 1930s. It has a full page on how to make your own bag seasoning. In these days everyone played either sheepskin or hide bags. There were few proprietory brands of seasoning. Of those that did exist, Robertson’s ‘Airtight’ was the market leader. The recipe for this mixture was bought by John Weatherston of RG Hardie & Co in…

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